Roberto Martinez in pole position to land the manager’s job at Hull after Steve Bruce exit

ROBERTO MARTINEZ is in pole position to land the manager’s job at Hull.

Martinez has leap-frogged caretaker-boss Mike Phelan and moved to the head of the queue to replace after holding talks with Tigers co-owner Ehab Allam.

Bruce quit after four years at the KC helm last Friday following a bust-up with Allam over funds for new signings, and City officially began the interview process to find his successor yesterday.

But Martinez stole a march on his rivals for the post by secretly meeting Allam last Sunday, and the Spaniard so impressed Hull’s vice-chairman that he is clear favourite to be handed the task of keeping the newly-promoted East Yorkshire outfit in the Premier League.

Allam is believed to have sounded out Martinez after getting a ringing endorsement of the former Swansea and Wigan boss’s qualities from former Latics chairman Dave Whelan.

Now he tops a five-man short-list that, along with Bruce’s former No2 Phelan, also includes ex-Manchester United skipper and current Republic of Ireland assistant-boss .

That leaves Martinez,43, on the brink of stepping into Bruce’s shoes for the second time having succeeded him as Wigan chief seven years ago.

He kept the Latics in the top flight and guided them to a shock FA Cup Final triumph over red-hot favourites Manchester City before quitting to take charge at Everton three years ago.

But his Goodison reign ended when he was axed in May – despite leading the Toffees to the semi-finals of both the FA and Capital One Cups.

Hull are anxious to make a quick appointment with the start of the season less than three weeks away, and Martinez could be unveiled ahead of the Tigers trip to Austria next week.